[keep_hope_alive]

It will be another week, GM is a bit late getting the engine shipped. The shop manager will send me pictures of the new engine when it arrives.

[2SS Capt]

Originally Posted by keep_hope_alive

It will be another week, GM is a bit late getting the engine shipped. The shop manager will send me pictures of the new engine when it arrives.

Makes me so sad you are going through this, hope all works out well for you... Please keep us advised...

[keep_hope_alive]

Drove 1300 miles this week, in the loaner, and when I returned today I stopped by the dealership and they said they had the new engine installed, and they were in the final stages. Should see it next week! I've put 4,000 miles on the loaner to date.

[keep_hope_alive]

Got some photos of the new motor from the dealer:

[keep_hope_alive]

Crazy update!

The new engine is in. And then the dealership fired it up and it ran the same, awful. Then they tested the gas and found what I suspected from the get-go (refer to my first post in this thread). Water in the gas. This is "gas":



The gas was 91 octane from a Phillips 66 near my house, one of the few Top Tier gas stations nearby (hard to find 93 near me). So, after meeting with the dealer this afternoon, I headed to the gas station and they gave me an email to their insurance company and a claim number. I've sent that to the dealer, along with proof of purchase of the gas. Dealer needs to get reimbursement for dropping the tank and flushing the system.

Here is the current status:

[MT-SS1LE]

How does water in the fuel lead to coolant leaks and a new engine? I wonder if you didn't already have the coolant leak and the fuel contamination is just a coincidence.

[SomeGeoffGuy]

Yea, that is what I thought when you blasted off the second set of heads. Hopefully it gets all settled now.

It is definitely a big mess, though. Hopefully they didn't blow the new engine, and you get it back all fixed soon.

-Geoff

[keep_hope_alive]

Originally Posted by MT-SS1LE

How does water in the fuel lead to coolant leaks and a new engine? I wonder if you didn't already have the coolant leak and the fuel contamination is just a coincidence.

No,no, they aren't related. It is coincidence that I got bad gas and then the dealer did a cylinder inspection first and found coolant then stopped looking for other issues. They assumed it ran awful because of the coolant in cylinders 5, 6, 7, & 8. Fair enough. Turns out, I already had a small coolant leak thru the block (my level was a bit low a few weeks earlier and I was going to visit the dealer to discuss).

In the end, I'm lucky. The coolant issue was found before the bad gas, which is good. Had the dealer listened to me and tested gas first, they would have never looked in the cylinders and I would have had the car returned to me, still leaking coolant a bit. Maybe I would have had the car back to them to investigate why coolant was disappearing. Maybe the leak would have become an issue when I was 8 hours from home. Last week, I drove 1300 miles in the loaner, a trip that would have taken place in the Camaro. I drove a loop around Lake Michigan (for work). I could have had the coolant leak cause issues when I was far from home. Because of the sequence of events, I was a 10 minute walk from my house when the bad gas made it thru the lines. And in the end, I get a new engine, which was needed anyway.

The bigger concern, as I see it now, is that my engine did not show any performance degridation even though coolant was leaking through. And the issue doesn't appear to be head gasket related or due to overheating. It appears to be a casting issue. Moving forward, all oil changes will be sent to Blackstone Labs for analysis. It's a small price to pay for monitoring of the engine internals, and certainly, I'll know to pay regular attention to coolant levels.

[keep_hope_alive]

I should get the car back today.

When cleaning the gas tank, the dealer noticed the factory fuel pump had a bad transfer hose, prompting a replacement of the pump and delaying the repair. The gas station's insurance company was great to work with, and they paid the dealer for the entire fuel system hassle, around $1,500. That saved me from having to pay the dealer then negotiate a reimbursement from the insurance company.

Almost done. Dealer noticed the driver's window didn't go back up, so they replaced the motor. I'm thinking it was just a low voltage issue, but who knows. My concern is how the door was reassembled, since my doors are far from normal. So I get to open the door back up to inspect the replacement/install of my acoustical treatments and acoustical barriers.

So, the car had head gaskets replaced and reassembled, then a full engine replacement, then a fuel system cleaning and fuel pump replacement, and lastly a driver's window motor replacement.
My out of pocket cost: $0.
5,000 miles put on the loaner during the 8 week period, mileage that was mostly reimbursed by my company (lots of work trips).

[Evergreen6]

Wow, what a nightmare! Might be time to send that one down the road, stop the spell? lol

[keep_hope_alive]

It's home! Time to clean it.

[keep_hope_alive]

Originally Posted by Evergreen6

Wow, what a nightmare! Might be time to send that one down the road, stop the spell? lol

Hell no! I've got nearly $4k and over 70 hours in acoustical treatments in this car in just Phase 1 of making it quiet and making music sound amazing. It would be foolish to part with it at this point. It's got a new lease on life.

If I didn't have all of that work in, and it was still basically stock, then yea... i probably would part ways!

All future oil changes will be sent to Blackstone for reporting and monitoring. No more surprises.

[HighIron]

Glad they took care of you.


Do the crate ( replacement ) engines require a different break-in procedure/schedule?

[keep_hope_alive]

Originally Posted by HighIron

Glad they took care of you.


Do the crate ( replacement ) engines require a different break-in procedure/schedule?

I'm treating it like it needs the same procedure.